After having company, I was ready for a day to catch up! It was a beautiful day, so after doing as much laundry as would fit on my balcony and picking up a bit, I took a bike ride. The ume trees are in full bloom as you can see. There were lots of artists out painting them--if you look closely, you can see them.
We really enjoyed our company--we had Chuck Kellenberger from Elgin and Stan Virkler from Remington. I hesitantly took on the challenge of taking them to Tokyo for sightseeing on Monday. For a country bumpkin from Tremont, this was a little bit intimidating, but thanks to my guests' patience and Akihiro's preparation, we enjoyed the day. We took a half day tour in the morning, so I got to go up in Tokyo tower--great view, Asakusa Temple, and a quick look at the Imperial Palace grounds. I think I could do it on my own the next time. After leaving the tour, we went in search of a Kaiten Sushi place. Akihiro had sent me 3 emails on my cell phone with directions to the place and the kanji name, but Tokyo Station is huge! We compared my phone screen to the maps, but finally I consented to asking for directions (that awful stubborn streak in me!). After lunch we were on our own, so I took the carefully prepared directions from Akihiro and we headed for the land of garbage and the big ferris wheel--I even bought tickets on my own (I am spoiled with my card that I can use on most any line without buying a ticket!)
Backtracking a bit...we had Akihiro's grandma and 3 cousins for supper on Saturday. They had a good time tasting American cooking--casserole, green beans, spinach salad, pecan pie, etc. When they went to leave, I had them sign the guestbook. Grandma had never heard of such a thing, but gladly filled 4 lines with her Japanese writing!